LaShawnda Crowe Storm is an artist, activist, community builder, and occasional urban farmer who uses creative power as a vehicle for dialogue, social change, and healing.
Drawing inspiration from craft, folklore, and indigenous African spiritual practices, Crowe Storm interweaves mixed-media elements with interactive and community-based components, where equal weight is given to the final art piece and the creation process. This multifaceted approach opens space for the community to engage in the difficult dialogues presented in her work. “If life were a photo,” she says, “then my artwork would be the film negative, exploring forgotten histories and neglected contemporary realities such as lynching and racial and gendered violence. By printing these forgotten negatives, I make seen the unseen and give voice to the silenced.” In making visible these forgotten and hidden “negatives” of our past and present, Crowe Storm activates art’s power to create change, challenges viewers to see their world with a new lens, and whether making art or sowing seeds, take action to build a more just and healed future for all.
